Rob starts again

“Al,

I have been following your site for a while now and I enjoy all of the posts and tips. As with many of your readers, I have gotten the “BUG” again after many many years thinking about it. I had a large HO layout in my parents house as a boy but after college, marriage, etc, I never had the time to start another layout.

Well, my in-laws came across a box of Lionel Tin plates (Pre-war). For those who are not familiar with Lionel grading, they made all of their trains out of metal until WW II. After they started using plastics. I was always fond of Lionel trains but HO was the popular scale in the 70’s so that’s what we built. Well, I jumped in with both feet, started with a small 2-4-2 steam engine and some track.

I recently negotiated for some space in the basement for a 4 X 8 table and began construction. I have always been more interested in running trains than scenery so I have jammed in as much as I could fit. The track it all O27. I have just about finished laying the track and will be wiring next. I have done some test runs and so far so good. I will work on the scenery last, but I will do it this time.

I have a mix of steam and diesel, passenger and freight so I can keep changing as I like. No particular line or theme to the plan as of now. I got my 11 year old son the Lionel Polar Express set for Christmas and he is anxious to see it run. The detail that Lionel put into the set is amazing, one of the best Berkshires I’ve seen.
I have attached a few progress photos and a short video.

Thanks,

Bob S,

Long Island, NY, USA”

“For me the important part is to get as much out of my hobby as I can without spending too much money.

To that end I go to flea markets, garage sales and train shows to find good deals on collections of old Tyco rolling stock. For not much money I can detail, repaint, add knuckle couplers and steel wheels, and other minor items and get a nice looking and nice rolling fleet of cars for not much money, but a bit of time and work.

Rick”

“I signed up for your emails about a week ago. One of them mentioned what you do with oddball things you find that you can use in your train layout. Was laying in the hospital bed a couple years ago and was looking at this breathing machine that was supposed to blow into to see if I had enough strength in my lungs. I said you know that looks like a silo. So here it is!

Roger”

“I have just made a requested video showing the pulling power of a couple of diesels pulling a long rake of coaches, bit of fun, but not realistic on a model railway.

Rick
I could have written your post. About a year and half ago I started my Lionel 027 layout with my 65 year old trains. I do the same thing by going to flee markets and train shows and getting the old stuff and rebuilding it. To me that is a big part of the fun. You really have packed a lot into a small space but it looks good. Nice to have your son as a helper, I have my grandson helping me and it is priceless. Have fun and enjoy.
Steve from Toms River

Always watch the videos and always entertaining Dave. Great to see a scale length train, your layout can accommodate it without looking silly! lucky you! However, as you say from a practical point of view unrealistic on most layouts and unless you have a 40″ radius or better they will de rail under their own weight or drag etc. I decided a while ago to have a maximum of 6 coaches which fit into the stations with an engine at each end etc. A compromise but a necessary one and less frustration! I do have a high level part on my layout and it is amazing how recent advances now produce engines which can pull scale length trains while being smooth and almost silent. It is a great time to re enter the model railway world the detail and efficiency are a million time better than the models we used to have! keep up the inspiration to others sir!

Just before Thanks giving, I got out my two old trains… a 1949 Lionel Scout that my dad bought for me when I was 3 years old and a 1932 Louis Marx that has been passed down through the family. Neither had been out of their boxes since I dated the box in 1966. A friend has helped me build two tables in an “L” position and I have since added two more new trains with two elevated rails. Looking forward when time permits to start some Styrofoam mountain landscaping. It makes me feel almost like a kid again. 🙂 The internet has been great for some creative new ideas.

Thanks for sharing Bob, Your layout it is starting to take shape I look forward to seeing more in the future.

Thank you David, for video of your entire layout it was refreshing to see the size and the scope of your attic. Your past videos shows a lot of detail and it was just amazing and creative. But for me I was hoping to see this type of video so I could get an idea of the scope. Having an addict myself and wondering what to do with it that was a big question although I don’t see my attic looking like yours but it’s giving me a lot of good ideas.

great story on how people get back or start up in this hobby. would like to see more on the track build as it progresses I am just about to start my up hill climb track. it is always good viewing when there is a video, love seeing trains moving.

Did I missed the mentioned video? Praise to the HO-er’s layout building skills in twice the size; it’s looks stable. HOORAY! It isn’t roadbedded and it’s O-27 – forgotten, flexible for cut & shape, and terrific in tight turns. I hope that he keeps us informed of his progress if only to be an inspiration to new O-gaugers like myself. Also, I’ld like to see the layout in operation. Congrats to the man who thinks of scenery as secondary; we need more meat-and-potato hobbyists.

When it was my first job in 1972, I traveled from Newport , Essex to London Liverpool Street daily. The trains were 12 coaches, pull usually but Class 37s and occasionally class 25s and were to long for most stations, in fact at Stansted Mountfitchet, to get off you had to be in the first four coaches. They were always a mixture of Blue & Grey and Maroon, with mainly Green engines with Yellow heads. The line is now Electrified.

Dave, realistically you wouldn’t have that long a passenger train pulling that many coaches right ? Now on freight trains that might happen but I don’t know the number you would have in that situation.

Trains of 12 cars were common, and during the war they would run longer still. I was guard on a Severn Valley train just yesterday with a GWR Manor class and nine on for 306 tons, and some of our intermediate stops only hold five. On the national network nowadays you can’t call at NEW stations that are shorter than the train but you can at places where it’s been done before the regs changed, provided you can select door opening or take other precautions. When we had HSTs diverted over the Golden Valley route, they had to cancel the local trains to release paths, so you could even see a 10 car 125mph train calling at the 2-car Stonehouse halt, just the guard’s door being released.
Rod

Thank you all again for your coments , back in the early days we would regular see trains with 10 -11 -12 carriages and just the one loco pulling , but on steep inclines they did put a banker on the rear , seem to remember they did this coming out of Manchester heading towards Yorkshire , as for the box on the wall its an old dynamis command station I used to use , not used now due to having the ECOS controler , but may come in handy if the ecos stops working for some reason , I have made another video showing me adding the rust which Al is posting on Sunday ..hope this answer the questions in the comments …Dave